BOSTON — Fresh off a dominant win over the Orlando Magic on Friday, the Boston Celtics welcomed Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks to town on Saturday for the second leg of a back-to-back. Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford were out for the Celtics, giving Luke Kornet an opportunity to start.
The Celtics came out hot. Their energy was infectious, and they parlayed solid defense into quality shot-making. But the second quarter destroyed all of that. Atlanta surged back into the game as everything that worked for the Celtics in the first disappeared, as if the energy had been zapped out of their bodies.
Atlanta enjoyed a free run to the rim, sinking a ton of floaters, but the Celtics made that trade-off in favor of preventing their three-point shooters from getting hot. But it didn’t matter, because Boston’s offense was as inconsistent as it comes, looking free-flowing one possession and like molasses the next.
The game was neck-and-neck deep into the fourth quarter. Jaylen Brown nailed a huge middy to put the Celtics up 102-100, and on the very next play, the Celtics' ball pressure forced a turnover, and Young got a technical foul. But the game wasn't over there.
A Jrue Holiday turnover led to a mess, and then a Jayson Tatum missed free throw and questionable Holiday foul put Young at the line. He sunk both free throws to tie the game at 104-104. And after a Tatum fadeaway at the buzzer missed, a Celtics game that should have ended at the charity stripe ended up in overtime.
The start of overtime saw an all-out brawl, with Tatum and Brown right in the middle. A pair of Derrick White threes opened up the scoring for Boston, but the Hawks kept answering right back. And with 1:10 left, they were up by three.
Boston scored, but after another stop, they botched a two-for-one opportunity, and it was Atlanta's chance to play the free-throw game. Jalen Johnson missed two, but the Celtics couldn't get the rebound. Then Onyeka Okongwu sunk both. A few trips to the line later, the Hawks got a 119-115 win.
Here are three studs and three duds from the game.
Stud - Luke Kornet
It wasn’t just the steals for Kornet. He was awesome in this game, and Boston needed quality minutes from him with Porzingis and Horford sidelined.
Kornet’s rolls to the rim were a consistent source of offense for a Celtics team that struggled to generate points for long stretches of the evening.
Brown did a great job of finding him, as did Tatum. And he was ready to make a play every single time.
And defensively, though the Celtics’ rim protection wasn’t great, he was solid. At times, it looked as though Boston was willing to give up some floaters in order to prioritize other defensive areas. Kornet played into that idea well.
Dud - Jayson Tatum
Just one night after obliterating the Magic, Jayson Tatum looked like a different player on Saturday. Off nights happen, and this was definitely one of them for the Celtics star.
He still chipped in with some solid scoring, nice passing, and rebounding, but a lot of his game was off. Tatum was making a lot of little mistakes that he doesn’t usually make.
Whether it was his unsightly turnover late in the third quarter or losing focus off the ball at various points in the night, Tatum had a very odd evening.
Tatum’s second half was significantly better than the first, but it still felt like an atypical evening for the superstar.
Stud - Active hands
On a usual night, the Celtics prioritize playing quality defense over forcing turnovers. Against the Hawks, their hands were very active, and it led to some great steals.
In the first half, in particular, the Celtics were getting a ton of deflections, disrupting Atlanta's offensive flow whenever they got the chance. Their ball pressure carried over very well from the win over Orlando on Friday night.
Dud - Transition opportunities
For as good of a job the Celtics did nabbing steals, and they had extremely active hands against the Hawks, they weren’t able to capitalize on their defensive successes. Every time they got in transition, they fumbled.
It was highlighted by a pair of back-to-back possessions in the first half. Sam Hauser overthrew Jayson Tatum for an alley-oop on the first one, then Tatum missed a contested layup on the second. He picked up a technical for clapping in the refs face after the play as he was looking for a foul.
Hauser even blew a wide-open dunk late in the third. There were just an astounding number of blown opportunities in transition on Saturday.
Stud - Payton Pritchard
Without Payton Pritchard, the Celtics would have been dead in the water in this game. His shot-making in the second half helped carry what, at times, looked like a lifeless offense.
His progression this season has been truly incredible to watch, going from a solid bench piece to a go-to guy on the offensive end of the court.
The threes he made in the second half were one of the only reasons the Celtics were able to stay afloat, and he deserves more credit than he’ll get for their performance on Saturday night.
Dud - Sam Hauser
Saturday night will be one Sam Hauser wants to forget.
If the brutal missed dunk late in the third wasn’t bad enough, Hauser couldn’t buy a bucket for the rest of the game. He was ice-cold from three (as he has been for long stretches this season).
Plus, Hauser couldn’t grab the ball to save his life at certain points. Loose balls ran away from him like the wrong side of a magnet propels away from another.
He just didn’t have it against the Hawks.